Raise the Hammer

After having spent the afternoon in The Gore yesterday with my 6 year old who had a blast and ate like a queen (and all yummy local fare from Meatball Shoppe balls, Reardon's dogs, Sweetness Bakery cupcakes, to yummy frozen fruit pops), it's saddening to imagine sitting in the bright, warm, afternoon sun, overlooking a demolished lot and as others in our community have alluded to, an empty lot that could remain that way for years.

We just recently started this wonderful pilot project within this historic area of our city, and soon thereafter a large chunk of that history is to be brought down which would take away so much from the feel that exists while enjoying these festivities.

We talk so much about tax payer funding but with the invention and popularity of online crowd funding and the innovative and vast types of projects that are funded in this matter, but what about seeing what heritage preservation could bring in the way of alternate means to fund these types of projects in a city that although it needs to preserve it's heritage, it needs to fix people first.

I understand heritage preservation can have a ripple affect on our economy through attractiveness of these areas and the tourism these sites draw, but saving a few million now could help our cities hardest hit now.

Perhaps if we as a city could say that monies raised for city-building projects by the citizens through means such as crowd funding, that an equal amount or some percentage, would be directed into a fund that works towards taking some serious steps to bridge the gaps between those scraping by, and those that are far from barely surviving.

What if there was a plaque on the walls of all these buildings, stating that these facades were owned by the people? Protected forever under citizen heritage preservation. It also means we are in charge of repairs and upkeep, but I have often wondered how we might be able to use crowd funding for city building.

Is this such a project?

Comment edited by lawrence on 2013-06-20 11:57:59